Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders CVA Optima Pro

After 10+ years of hunting with sidelock rifles, I finally gave in to the Darkest Side of the Dark Side... inline muzzleloaders! I'm tired of the amount of time needed to clean the sidelocks, and the necessity of cleaning after 3 or 4 shots just so I can load the dang thing. I'm tired of hangfires (missed the buck of the decade two years ago due to a hangfire!). I'm tired of failures-to-fire due to damp powder or caps.

So I looked into several inline models and finally settled on the CVA Optima Pro. It's had good reviews and you can't beat the price... rifle plus scope bases and rings came in just over $300.

I mounted a Simmons 3-9X I had sitting around my gun room on the Optima because my eyes ain't what they used to be. Open sights are a real challenge for me now out past 100 yards.

I intend to use this rifle for the general gun season, since the county in which I hunt does not allow centerfire rifles (slug guns, muzzleloaders, and handguns only). My hunting stands offer shots of up to 150-175 yards, so I don't want to use my slug gun there... it's good for closer stuff, under 100 yards, but past that it's not accurate enough to risk on a living animal. I can switch back to the fiber optic sights for muzzleloader-only season later on, but after my experience with the scope today, I think I'll invest in a 1X scope and a second set of Millet rings instead.

I went to the range to sight it in today. I'm already a fan of PowerBelt Aerotip bullets, so I took a couple packages of 295 gr PB's and a bottle of Jim Shockey Gold to find out what the rifle can do.

It took me a while to figure out that this rifle doesn't shoot very accurately until it's been fouled. Once I got that little detail under control, I started firing really tight groups with the 295 PB and 2 JS Gold pellets (100 gr equivalent). I fired four groups for sighting-in purposes, settling on a point of impact 4" high at 100 yds, which will allow point-blank aiming out to 150 yards according to the ballistics tables.

My best 100-yard group was 4 bullets inside 1", and none of my groups were over 2.0". Average group size was 1.2".This is a level of performance I would never have expected from a muzzleloader.

At first I was cleaning the bore after every 5 shots, but once I realized the rifle needed fouling to stay true, I didn't clean it again. I fired all 16 of my 4-shot sight-in groups without cleaning the rifle.

I'll try to post some pix in a while. This rifle has just blown me away.

I have a quick question about this. I know nothing about in line muzzle loaders so forgive my ignorance, but I have been wanting to get one which is why I ask. If you say the barrel has to be fouled in order to shoot striaght (or tight groups) how will you be able to do that when you go hunting?

First thing I did was fire three 209 primers through the bore, then I put in two pellets and fired them off. Then I loaded with my regular load. You could do the same thing in the morning, I suppose. Alternately, you could leave the powder fouling in the bore for a few days... Clean Shot (which is what Shockey Gold is) doesn't rot bores as fast as black powder or Pyrodex. I've deliberately left a bore well-fouled with Clean Shot (in a very non-humid environment, my basement) for as much as a week in moderately humid conditions and have observed no pitting or rust formation. I'm going to see if I can get better performance out of a clean bore tomorrow using a different powder charge (non-pelletized), and if so, that will solve the problem.

I never thought muzzleloaders were very accurate either. It didn't take long to see that I was wrong. My first muzzleloader was a T/C Pennsylvania Hunter. I couldn't believe how accurate a patch and round ball could shoot. My second muzzleloader was a T/C Encore. Now I'm even more spoiled by their accuracy. My buddy says inlines are "cheating"!!! He is a flintlock guy. I wouldn't hesitate to use a muzzleloader during the regular rifle season here in New York.

Mike